Winter Wales in Four Seasons

'It's the winter of 2011.

'For the people that live off the land,

'it's normally a time of recovery and preparation for the new year.

'But this year is a little bit different.'

Oooh! Good lord!

'Wales has experienced a particularly mild winter.'

It's a bit early in the year for that.

Oooh! Hoo-hoo-hoo-hoo!

'I'm Renee Godfrey,

'and as a surfer, my life has always been controlled by the seasons.

'This year, I want to find out

'what these seasons mean to the people of Wales.

'In December, I'm off to explore

'what the winter brings to the farmers in the north.'

It's such an important part of what we are.

'I want to find out what this season means to those who look after us when things go wrong.'

-Mountain Rescue.

-Thank you.

-All right.

'Winter is changing in Wales.'

This is the mildest winter I've known. The previous winter was the coldest.

'And so are the lives of those who depend on the seasons.' Thank you very much.

'Snowdonia in December.

'The livestock are off the hill.

'And for farmers like Gareth Wyn Jones, it's time for rest,

'recuperation and a bit of sport.'

Standing room only.

What we usually do is we put Steve in front of us

as a bit of a windbreaker, because he's a big lad.

He stops the draught. So he's usually at peg number one,

and then the wind just breaks for everybody else.

'Gareth is part of a local farmers' shoot.

'And every fortnight between October and January,

'he joins his neighbours shooting pheasants in the woods around their farms.

'14 farmers divide into two groups.'

That was a smooth ride. Thank you.

'They take it in turn to shoot and flush out the pheasants.

'Each of us chooses a peg, which will be our shooting position for the day.'

If you can send the birds right over 14...

-As slow as possible.

-THEY LAUGH

-As slow as possible!

-That would be good.

'I'm joining Gareth for the last shoot before Christmas.'

-We'd better get in position quick. This is our peg.

-OK.

So you're going to do the first round

-and I'll just be your apprentice?

-Yeah.

'More than 100,000 people shoot in Wales.

'It's an industry worth £73 million a year.

'And pheasant shoots aren't just for posh people on large country estates.

'Shooting means something else up here.'

Today's the day when we have a break, a rest.

And a chat, you know, social with these people.

And it does make a difference.

You need something. Just work, work, work.

You need something that gets you out of the house.

-And, you know, you've got something to take home to your wife.

-Brilliant.

You haven't been sitting in the pub all day drinking with your mates.

You've been out in the fresh air.

You'd think we get enough of it, but we don't. I love it.

'Gareth has grown up shooting,

'and it plays an important role in the way he manages the land.'

It's important for us as farmers, as well, to shoot crows and magpies and things.

You know, that helps the wildlife. You've got to have a balance.

'They shot four birds on the first drive.

'As we spread out for the second, it's my turn in the firing line.'

-Ren, this is Eiros, our head gamekeeper.

-Hiya.

-All right?

-All right, thank you. And you?

-Good. Yeah, yeah.

-Now, we're going to beat this wood through here.

-OK.

-OK?

The plan is, you stay wherever you can get a clear shot

at anything in open trees. You stay about 100 yards behind us,

then keep on moving on through the wood.

Get a good place like this where you can get a clear shot,

-where you can select your birds.

-How close should I stay to you?

-Stay about 100 yards behind us, really.

-OK.

-OK?

I'm pretty much shooting towards them.

It doesn't quite sit right with me, that doesn't.

You've always got to remember it's totally safe if you're looking at blue sky.

It's got to be clear, it's got to be blue sky, and you'll shoot nobody.

'I'm in unfamiliar territory here.

'I've never even held a gun, let alone shot one.

'The beaters start driving the birds out of the wood.'

Ren!

-I can hear my name.

-He's coming. Here! Here! Go! Go! And again!

-Oh, that was a nice bird!

-Good stuff, wasn't he?

-Oh!

Suddenly, I heard my name being called and my heart started

to race double time as I quickly got ready with the gun.

Here he comes! Here! Here, here, here, here. Go on! Go on!

-Oh! (BLEEP!)

-The safe!

Oh! Schizer!

Note to self, don't leave the safety latch on.

Otherwise it's somewhat of a false start and everyone thinks,

and rightly so, that you're a bit of a ninny.

OK.

'The way of life up here is very different to my own.

'Over the course of the year with Gareth,

'I've learnt that on the farms,

'death is much more a part of everyday life.

'As the day progresses, the number of birds shot grows from five to 15.

'Gareth and I each have one more go,

'but neither of us shoot anything.

'And at midday, his sons join us and we swap to do some beating.'

What have we got in this dump area?

-(Yeah, that's why we've got to be a little bit quiet.)

-(OK.)

-(We've got partridge in here, hopefully.

-Oh!

-Yeah.)

(So, um...we should get a few partridge,

(pheasants and might be a few woodcock.

(So, um...fingers crossed.)

'There is cruelty in shooting.

'And if I'm honest, I don't know how I would've felt

'if I had killed something.'

-Do you want to go forward?

-Go out that way a little bit.

'But strangely, some wildlife does actually benefit from it.

'Gamekeepers feed pheasants through the year,

'which provides food for other woodland birds.

'And land that would otherwise be fields

'is turned into useful wildlife habitat.'

This most probably would have been part of the field, this dump cover.

-Yeah.

-The shoot's fenced it off, planted trees.

So that's an ideal habitat for all kinds of different wildlife.

You just haven't got green fields.

'By 3.00, the short winter day is over.

'And having spent the day with the gang,

'I now feel like one of the lads.'

She's the celebrity, I'm just the sidekick.

LAUGHTER

'Whatever I think about shooting, for this tight-knit community,

'days like this seem really important.

'They're not just a chance to escape the farm, but a place to meet,

'swap stories and pass knowledge onto the next generation.'

Number of shots for today for the 42 birds that's been shot is...191.

Oh! Great!

That will be nice for Christmas dinner for you.

That'll be lovely, yeah. Thank you. There's a good weight on them.

-I hope you've enjoyed today, anyway.

-It was absolutely brilliant.

It's such an important part of what we are.

And what makes me, as well, and what's made me tick.

Deep down, there's a lot of friendship there.

There's a lot of talking about their own problems

in farming, in our industry.

And I can come home a happier man.

-And I hope you've seen a little bit.

-I really have.

And I feel...quite honoured, actually, to have been a part of it.

-Over the last 12 months.

-I know. It's been amazing.

'It's really sad to say goodbye to Gareth.

'He's let me be a small part of his life,

'rooted in a beautiful area of Wales.

'But now I've got to head south.

'Because elsewhere in the country, winter brings new problems and hard work.'

'It's the Crickhowell Walking Festival,

'and for the Brecon Mountain Rescue team,

'a chance to raise much-needed funds.'

Not a lot of people, but you'd be surprised what's going in the box.

'The Brecon team covers over one fifth of Wales.

'They're all volunteers and on 24-hour callout.

'I'm joining them at one of their busiest times of the year.'

-Hi. How are you doing?

-You must be Mark.

-I'm Mark. This is Dave.

-Nice to meet you. Hi, Dave.

-Nice to meet you.

Packing up or on your way out?

Packing up kit from training on Wednesday.

'Mark Jones and Dave Coombes are two leaders of the Brecon team.

'They cover everything, from trapped climbers to missing children,

'and are always on call, ready to respond.'

This is the heavy...medical bag that's got

pretty much everything that we're able to deal with.

Wound dressings, burns dressings.

Why we do it, I don't know. We discuss it sometimes.

Sometimes at 3.00am when we're all soaking wet, why we do it.

And none of us really know. There's not a straightforward answer.

I don't believe in altruism.

We do it because we enjoy it. We get something from it.

But what, I don't know, apart from blisters!

THEY LAUGH

'This team is one of the busiest in the country.

'And the best way to see them in action is to join in with them.'

Someone will contact you, and if you make your way here, to base,

and then we'll all go from base.

You need to come prepared with, um,

with all your hill kit ready to go on the hill.

Waterproofs, food to see you through the night,

cos you could be on the hill for an hour, you could be on the hill for eight hours.

Radio Two receiving you. Two with background, over.

'The Brecon team runs weekly training exercises at night.'

I'll take the first-aid kit.

'Simulating the incidents they might encounter.'

-Better take the neck collar as well.

-'Tonight, I am the casualty.'

You don't need to feign any symptoms.

The very fact that you've fallen off a horse

should lead them to treat you as if you've got spinal injuries.

So if you sit on that...

'In this exercise, I'm an injured horse rider.

'But last year, half of their winter callouts

'were for a very different type of casualty.'

People get a bit...fed up when the nights draw in and, er...

we get an increase in the number of searches

for what we call despondent missing people.

Um...not necessarily suicidal,

but just going out to contemplate things and, er...

yeah, there is a definite peak around about the time the clocks go back.

Zebra Control, Zebra Control, 617 message, over.

'617, send.'

Control 617, we have a known location casualty.

Fallen horse rider. Request party immediately, over.

Zebra One, Mark Jones! Zebra Three, Nigel Dawson!

Yes!

All the information we've got is the grid reference and a fallen horse rider.

Um...we don't know what the injuries are,

-so we'll go in and report back.

-OK.

'Winter temperatures in the Beacons can dip down to minus 15."

'Casualty is a female named Renee, over.'

'Heavy rain and strong winds increase the risk of exposure.'

How are we going to cross this?

'If the team is on a callout for someone who doesn't want to be found,

'this search can take days.'

-Hello, there. Can you hear me?

-Hi, there.

-It's Dave, Mountain Rescue.

-Hi, Dave.

-Hi. How are you doing?

-I came off my horse.

OK. Did you black out at all?

-I don't think so, no.

-OK.

-We'll get you in a shelter to keep you out of the wind.

-Yeah.

-And then we'll do an assessment.

-OK.

-And we'll get you out of here. OK?

-Thank you.

-All right.

We've got a good night, but we can be out in absolutely

any weather the Beacons can throw at us, really.

Immediately, with our body heat, you'll start warming up.

Sometimes, the disheartening weather is the lashing down with rain,

horizontal rain, and it's getting in through your zips.

It doesn't matter how expensive your kit is, you'll get wet.

And it's 3.00am and you'd rather be in bed.

I'm going to do a quick... top to toe survey.

-You say you're not injured, but I just want to check.

-Sure.

People who are injured, when we get to them,

it's more relief than panic.

I think people who are lost when we get to them,

they tend to be more panicky.

-Control, Control, Zebra One, over.

-'Control.'

Control, I have an equipment list for Zebra One casualty site, over.

'Confirm you require a Vac map, stretcher...'

'With Mark's advance team having found me, the cavalry are called in with the stretcher.'

Mind the drop on your left.

A fallen horse rider is very common.

Um...when we come across a site,

this is quite normal for us.

It's probably fair to say

that we have more callouts at night than during the day.

Generally speaking, during the day, people are more able to help themselves.

If they're genuinely missing, they won't be reported missing

until the end of the day, generally, when they fail to return home.

'The Brecon team had one callout every four days last year.

'Over half were at night, and nine were fatalities.'

This is the first time we're going to move the casualty.

And if we bring any twists into the spine,

we can cause...permanent damage.

-Are you ready, guys?

-Yeah, we're ready.

-OK. So, er...

'My rescuers include a physicist, a prison officer,

'a farmer and a stay-at-home dad.'

'And they all put their lives on hold when the call comes in.'

-Lance, would you be able to take control?

-OK, OK.

'As all team members are volunteers, there are few fixed roles.

'Everyone has to be able to take charge of any situation.'

Two on the stretcher, and then I'll have three either side here.

Ready, raise, lift.

Oh, that's such a strange feeling.

OK.

It's a really reassuring feeling when they lift you up.

You feel like they're all looking after you.

-Raise!

-Raise!

We haven't got much room either side.

'We're fortunate that we've got an RAF Sea King base

'40 minutes away in North Devon,

'but there are times that those guys can't fly, and the rescue then is protracted.'

There's always a chance that someone can slip,

and she can be bumped around.

OK, take it easy now, guys.

Nice and slow.

'The whole ethos around evacuation is a nice, slow, steady evacuation.'

Hold it there, gents.

Take a step back there.

That's not level, that's not level.

Back up, back up.

Speed isn't of the essence, it's smoothness.

And without a helicopter, that's pretty difficult.

OK, Simon, if you can bring the rope around that tree?

'Whatever the season,

'these volunteers put themselves on the line for other people.

'Not because they're paid to,

'but because of a genuine love of the outdoors.'

Keep going.

Oh, it's nice to move.

There you go.

Watch your head.

-Thank you so much.

-Pleasure.

No problem.

-Your back's OK?

-Back's fine, yeah.

-We had to have your horse put down, though.

-Aaah!

-SHE LAUGHS

-Break it to you gently.

THEY LAUGH

'After all that hard work,

'we finish with a traditional Mountain Rescue warm-down.'

-Nige, Renee, can I have you here?

-Yes.

You're both team captains, you're in charge.

The scenario is, we've got two severely hypothermic casualties,

represented by the buckets of water.

-THEY LAUGH

-You have one minute to get the hypothermic casualty

round the light at the bottom and back.

-OK.

-Yeah? And that's it.

Ready? Brace, lift.

THEY ALL SHOUT: Go! Go, go, go!

RENEE LAUGHS

Go, go, go, go, go!

THEY ALL LAUGH AND SHOUT ENCOURAGEMENT

There's a woman winning!

INDISTINCT SHOUTS

Come on! Put your back into it!

Oh, no!

Flipping heck!

We spilled the whole bucket of water!

But you both made the helicopter.

Unfortunately, both of your casualties died.

Oh...

-I think we need to practice more on this, guys.

-RENEE LAUGHS

Next week's training is going to be stretcher work.

THEY LAUGH

ENGINE STARTS

This is amazing.

It's ten o'clock at night, in the middle of the week,

these guys have all got work tomorrow morning,

and yet they're out here doing their training exercises.

Serious dedication.

The grim weather forces many of us to hide indoors over the winter.

We watch the seasons change

from behind the safety of double glazing and central heating.

But 2011 has been different.

Winter temperatures are five degrees warmer than last year,

and by the new year, the beaches of Mid Wales are already busy.

It's February, I'm in Aberdovey,

and we're at the end of what's been a really mild winter.

Even so, I've still got two coats on,

and I can't quite believe what I'm about to go and do.

'I'm joining Mike Alexander from the Outdoor Swimming Society.'

-Hi.

-You must be Renee.

-Yeah, hi, nice to meet you.

-Nice to meet you.

'Mike believes that swimming without my wetsuit on is not just more fun,

it is actually better for me.'

There's been quite a bit of research done

about the benefits of cold water immersion.

The blood from your extremities, your hands and your feet,

-rushes to your core to keep your core body going and your brain.

-Yeah.

And then when you get out, after about half an hour,

the blood that's been oxygenated a lot,

and almost, kind of, refreshed in the core of the body,

rushes back out to your extremities.

And they've found it helps the immune system,

erm...libido...

-Really?

-Er...outlook on life. Yeah, apparently.

OK.

-Let's get in there, then!

-THEY LAUGH

Let's go!

Ooh-hoo-hoo-hoo!

It's chilly!

It's not as warm as my wetsuit!

Can I put my coat on until... until we're ready to go in?

SHE LAUGHS

Hoo-hoo-hoo...

Aaah, I can do this...

-Ha!

-SHE EXHALES

-OK.

How long do you think we'll actually be in for?

Er...

15 minutes, but there's no time limit,

if we feel that we need to get out, we'll get out.

'The water temperature is seven degrees.

'And there's a strong current.

'In these conditions, swimming can be dangerous

'if you don't know what you're doing.'

In terms of signs, you know, if you're getting too cold,

I normally look at my hands and feel,

-if I can't close my hands together, like that...

-Yeah.

-..and make a fist...

-Yeah.

-..then it's time to get out.

-OK.

-Yeah.

Just take it easy.

Ooh!

Ooh, yes!

'The water is so cold, I can feel my body start to react immediately.'

Ooooh-ho-ho! It's really cold!

'But Mike seems immune to it.'

-Ooh!

-Focus, focus on the breathing now.

-OK.

-SHE BREATHES DEEPLY

-Oh!

Ooh! Good lord!

Oh, yeah, now I'm cold!

-Which way, this way?

-Let's go this way for a little bit.

Brrrrr!

'After two minutes, the blood in my fingers and toes

'starts to move back towards the centre of my body.

'My muscles start to weaken,

'and I lose co-ordination as the blood drains out of them.'

Now we're cold.

Now I'm shivering.

It's cold.

Really...

shiveringly...freezing.

'After 10 minutes, I've lost feeling in my feet.

'My body is shivering uncontrollably.

'And I find it difficult to talk.

'I've stayed in too long.'

-How are your hands?

-Hands are... Hands are cold.

-Yeah?

-Teeth are chattering.

Try to close them tight.

Tight... Yeah, slight lack of control.

-Yeah.

-We'd better get out.

Time to warm up.

Ooh!

-Dry our tops.

-Yeah.

And get those down jackets on.

And go for a run.

I... Well...I'm finding it even... hard to think.

Yeah, that's an early sign

that perhaps hypothermia is about to set in.

Just all of a sudden, you...you go from it being a little bit tingly,

and a little bit brisk, and almost invigorating,

to suddenly...

really, quite, quite violently cold, and...

I... I...I'm uncontrollably shaking now.

SHE PANTS

And my breathing has kind of gone a bit...

mad.

-Are we going to run?

-Yeah, let's run.

OK. I can't, I really can't feel my feet.

It doesn't matter.

I really can't feel my feet at all, I feel like I'm running on stumps.

'I need to get my blood pumping again,

'and force the warmth from my core back out to my arms and legs.'

-Feeling warm?

-Amazing, after just a bit of running.

-Yeah, yeah.

-I've actually got a layer on.

-Yeah.

-And you've got your core protected, you soon start to...

-Yeah.

-I wouldn't say warm up. Yeah, you... I'd say thaw out.

-Yeah! SHE CHUCKLES

I don't think it's the best of signs when your kneecaps start to go blue.

No comment on my libido!

'Winter swimming is not without pain,

'but the feeling as you warm back up is brilliant.

'You really feel as if you've done something good for your body.'

-Lovely jubbly.

-It makes...

It makes the tea better. It makes life better!

SHE LAUGHS

We're just back normally dressed now, as other walkers,

but I've got a kind of feeling of, a real smugness, about me,

because we've been in the sea, and we've had a really nice swim,

and feel refreshed and invigorated,

and everyone's smiling and feeling nice

cos they've been for a walk, but I've got one up on them.

By the end of February, winter seems almost over.

Spring flowers are already in bloom.

And for some people in Wales,

this warmth has brought nothing but headaches.

MOWER ENGINE STARTS

Joseph Atkin and his assistant, Alex,

run the gardens at Aberglasney House.

Home to one of Britain's finest winter gardens.

This winter, he's been unusually busy.

It's, erm... It's the middle of winter, and look at this weather.

RENEE LAUGHS And we're out mowing.

Last year, I didn't have to mow from...

..October till March, we didn't do any mowing.

This year, we're out once every three weeks mowing.

-You can see how much stuff's in here.

-Yeah, God!

-Yeah?

That's three weeks' growth in the winter,

it's completely unheard of for the time of year.

-That's a smell of summer to me, not of winter.

-No.

-Come and have a look at this.

-Wow!

-This is really interesting.

-There was 5,000 crocus planted here, right?

-Yeah.

And I put them in in the autumn,

this is exactly when they're supposed to flower,

but this autumn, a couple of them, right after they were planted,

they flowered, so I had spring flowering crocus

flowering in November.

Why did they flower in the autumn?

I think they just got fooled. They just thought it was spring.

And I was really panicking, because there's 5,000 of them in here,

and if they all flowered in November, December,

my display for this time of the year would have been over.

This is the mildest winter I've known in Wales.

And then the previous winter was the coldest.

So, you know, we've had the two extremes in two years.

The big freeze bites across much of the UK again.

Plummeting temperatures and falling snow

disrupt travel and close schools.

2010 was Wales's coldest winter for 25 years.

Temperatures at Aberglasney dropped down to minus 15,

and a deep frost devastated Joseph's winter plants.

This is the winter garden.

Specially designed to give you interest in the middle of winter.

It should all look like that.

You know, all these nice, lovely cushions.

You look on the other side,

and it looked like someone threw a hand grenade.

This Sarcococca is a real sort of standard, hardy, tough plant.

I've seen this growing at 3,000 metres altitude in China,

you know, three times the height of Snowdon.

-Do you see all these old stems?

-Yeah.

All of this got cut off by the winter.

Not supposed to happen to this plant, ever.

You get pretty down and depressed with it,

because, you know, you're taking something out,

-and your garden's going backwards.

-Yeah.

Rather than forwards, because of the weather.

Joseph depends on the seasons.

They drive the changes in his garden.

If one season fails, it affects his whole year.

-Have you seen the vegetable garden?

-No, I haven't, no.

'Winter in the vegetable garden

'is when the ground usually gets cleared for spring planting.'

This is some of our leftover winter veg,

and it's actually, I want to show you this,

cos...

-Because this weather's been so mild...

-Yeah.

We're still actually eating it.

And one of the downsides of all this mild weather is, you look at this,

-you see the hole straight through the middle of it?

-Yes!

-Something's been nibbling away at that.

-Yeah, that's mice.

-Really?

-They've eaten all the way round the core of it.

Things like mice are supposed to go dormant in the winter.

So they're eating all winter, they're breeding all winter,

and so you actually end up

-with twice as much of a problem the following spring, you see?

-Yeah.

So, so in some ways, you know,

this mild weather is a bit of a double-edged sword, really.

Cold weather can be a really good thing, really,

because it's a good cleanser, it gets rid of a lot of pests

and diseases and so on.

Whatever weather you get, it's got a good and a bad side.

All around Aberglasney,

the unusual temperatures have thrown species out of kilter.

Last year, every one of these died.

-Look at them this year, they're really romping away.

-They're flourishing, yeah.

The narcissus have come out really early, snowdrops were fairly early this year.

The bluebells in the woods, that didn't happen until April last year.

Even the wildlife is acting strangely.

SHE LAUGHS

I didn't plan on showing you this! THEY LAUGH

-Erm...

-Hello! Is this particularly seasonal behaviour?

SHE LAUGHS

I think it's a bit early, and certainly it shouldn't be on before nine o'clock.

SHE LAUGHS Not something that happens at Aberglasney every day.

SHE LAUGHS This is not how we behave here!

SHE LAUGHS

With all the changes that we're seeing now

at different times of year, does the idea of four distinct seasons

still apply, do you think?

The seasons are less reliable.

You know, I mean, when I was a kid,

-you always used to get nice hot school summer holidays.

-Yeah.

Well, I can't remember the last time

we had a hot summer in Wales, you know.

Even in England, they've got the same problems,

it's will they get rain now, not when they get rain.

From a gardening point of view, um...it has a big impact.

Because you don't really know exactly what you're going to get each year,

you don't know how to plan.

And when it all happens at once, it looks great for two weeks...

-Then...

-And then you've got nothing for two, three weeks or something, so...

Not often you hear a gardener who doesn't complain about the weather!

'The seasons have turned once again.

'And I've come full circle.

'Over the last year, I've lived through all weathers,

'and met some incredible people.

'But after 12 months, I'm back on my home beach in Penarth.'

What this year has taught me is that for everyone,

from the fishermen on Penarth Pier to the farmers in North Wales,

the seasons are critical.

They're the engine that drives all the vital changes in the year.

But our seasons are becoming much less predictable.

Our winters much warmer, our summers much wetter,

and our challenge now

is how we adapt our lives to these new rhythms of nature.

March, 2012, was the driest for 50 years,

while April was the wettest on record.

Wales is changing.

And if we're still to live by the seasons,

then we need to change with them.

Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd